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The past 5 days were Chinese New Year break. 1/23 Monday being the official holiday.  Though I don't need a break from anything mainly because I am currently on a hiatus, this break was refreshing and relaxing.  Usually according the Korean tradition, my husband and I have to go to his family's house for the entire break; I'd have to make my way to their hometown located hours away from Seoul, sleep over, make food, and have 제사 with the relatives which includes my father-in-law's brothers and their families. (제사 as in both the in house ceremony as well as the ceremony at the burial site in the mountains.) In other words, a prolonged period of awkward smiles and moments of self-"don't just stand there, do something!" (though I know the superior females of the family would never scream at me in such way, I feel so dumb at times. It's like a typical first day at a new job) Either way, the supposed holiday is actually a period of work at least for the 며느리. But thank the Lord that my husband's family is not really like this. First, his family lives in Seoul which means that we don't have to go to their house for the entire break, and we save hours in traffic. We only needed to go on the day of. Besides, we see them on a weekly basis. Second, we didn't have to go up to the mountains. We were salvaged from the freezing mountain temperatures as well as the quadrupled traffic time as the burial site often becomes crowded. Instead, we were granted to go visit my grandmother in Suji. We took the new subway there to avoid holiday traffic. It took only 16 minutes from Kangnam to Suji. Now that is bullet fast, because the it would have taken us approximately 50 minutes on a normal subway. The hard part was getting a cab. There were very few to be seen and most were snobby enough to pick and choose their customers. We were denied a few times. What should have taken just 5 minutes if we had gotten a cab right away took 30 minutes. Nonetheless, we had a glorious meal at my grandma's.

On the last day of the break, my parents-in-law invited us to go eat 두부전골 at a well known restaurant located in the outskirts of Seoul. The five of us- the parents, the brother, the husband and I got in one car. I believe it was our first time. Though I see them every week and we've reached a certain level of comfort, there was something different about this experience. It was rather intimate and warm. I sat between my husband and brother-in-law, and we gossiped and enjoyed my loquacious proclamation of the type of person the next 며느리 should be: 1. 우리 시부모님께 잘하는 사람. 2. 나한테 잘하는 사람. ㅋㅋ  That is it ;P  And for the latter followed an elaborate description as to how she would fulfill the purpose. We both agreed that chances are she'd be older than me, but lo and behold, according to Korean tradition, she'd have to submit  and call me 형님.  Kind of 부담스러워 on my part but anyhow. I told them she couldn't compete for our 시부모님's love and do 여우질 like those you see in Korean dramas. Instead of a competitive relationship between the 며느리s,  I want a 사이좋게 지내는 relationship with my 동서 (HAHAHAHHA 동서래~~) Wondering who the new addition to our family would be... haha.

We saw a number of horrific movies during this break that I'm beginning to feel if it is even worth documenting every single movie I watch. Let's try this a bit more and I'll determine the life span of this list then. Anyhow:

6) 50/50- This is the best movie from this list and one of the most enjoyable movies I've seen as of late. It was realistic and engaging in different levels. Well-made :) I appreciated the subtlety of this film; It could have easily been dramatized because of the subject of the film, but it strayed away from it. Thank you.

7) The Girl with a Pearl Earring- I remember back in the day this film was acclaimed for some reason. Much like the previous, it had a lot of subtlety but no hint of oomph. Disappointing ending.

8) Drive- I don't know. I thought it was a pretentious attempt. At the end, no message was effectively delivered. I feel that a lot of good movies can be twisted and complex with a level of subtlety and a "good" movie always inspires me so much that I'm compelled to immediately write an essay about it-- gather the themes/messages and derive from it a thesis, then support it with plot, characterization, mise-en-scene, etc, or vice versa. A good movie always leaves me thinking. However, this film was not inspiring whatsoever.

9) Contagion- I fell asleep. Twice. And I never finished the movie. Enough said.

잔소리

Based on several accounts of my recent upheavals with close affiliates, I realized that personally, I place more value on loyalty than fairness when it comes to friendships. I found that loyalty is practiced by a much tighter demographic than I had thought. And rather coldly I faced a lot of conflicting views. Don't get me wrong; I welcome different perspectives and learn a lot from them. But when unmet expectations and sour appreciation take their toll on relationships, it really destroys the dynamic amongst people. Words have been exchanged and maybe when people hear an apology, they see a green light to throw words without restraint, without ever considering whether they are necessary or not. Some will remain self-righteous and never understand that an apology also comes with great humility-- an apology declared mainly as a consequence of 정, and an attempt to blanket any hurt that has been interchanged, (and not necessarily an admittance of fault.) But from the receiving end, I heard no regret.  Maybe it is yet again another coming of age phase that I'm in or another wake up call to evaluate the different aspects of my life.  Either way, it turns out that what my mother had been telling me all along-- the 잔소리 or what I'd now like to refer to as 'wisdom' -- is true and always has been.

2012 Reading check list:
1) Justice by Michael J. Sandel (done 1/16)
2) Superfreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner (done 1/20)

Watched another disappointing movie last night:

5) Feast of Love. c-o-r-n-y and the slow fade outs after every scene couldn't have been louder in tackiness. Oh, and the entire script-- I cringed.

Gawd, my selection of movies is just so limited in my Catch On Demand. Oh well.

굴비 versus 조기

As I waved my "good-byes" to 2011, I had a conviction to keep everything that happened in 2011-- in 2011. But some thoughts and experiences often creep upon me and haunt me when I least expected them. They've become so familiar that I've come to terms with it. And I realize now that is sometimes better to wrestle with it and let it toil instead of burying it in the deep. Time will tell.

On another note, we went to church today-- to the 11:30 a.m. service.  Not a lazy Sunday today and we're very glad of it. We went to a 보리굴비정식 place in Yangjae. I was so excited to eat, for I'm a fan of  정식 and all of its beautiful 반찬. To my dismay, however, I learned after getting the anticipated main menu that the 보리굴비 is actually fish dried in wheat. It was like fish jerky-- completely dry and salty. 굴비 is the fish they dry out in the sun to be seasoned and cooked and 조기 refers to the fish undried. I was hoping for the latter with all the white fluff of fish straight out of the oven. Never again 굴비, never again.

EDIT: I was hating on 굴비 but I found out it's not really 굴비 that tastes like fish jerky. It is 보리굴비 that is super salty and dry. Regular 굴비 is actually tastes really good ^^ 

Current favorite flavor at Jamba Juice (because we all know favorites are subject to time) is banana berry. YUM. 

Uneventful Weekend

3. The Tourist-- Angelina Jolie has aged. Period.  The movie is utterly forgettable (except for its gorgeous scenes of Venice), cheesy, and predictable. The music-- oh gawd. I'm not even going to go there.

4. The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo-- This was the first film we had seen in the theater in such a long time. We've become such couch potatoes and I blame the weather. It is so cold that my bones are too brittle to move. Anyhow, I see David Fincher all over this movie, but I don't know.  I see both pros and cons. It is stylish and high-paced, and I was completely drawn in. The editing was remarkably done-- We were in a rollercoaster and Fincher was controlling our every reaction, I feel like. It is thrilling and without a dull moment. However, I thought some themes could have been better communicated in other ways. For one example, the incessant scenes of fornication representative of Lisbeth's experience with actual love and acceptance is tritely overdone. Once is enough and it could have been delivered in other ways. I just think it needed to be more precisely put together, overall.

It is Saturday night, actually Sunday morning 12:34 here in Seoul.  I feel like my cooking has gotten better ^^ I actually am experimenting with different flavors and methods. Today, I attempted gochujang jjigae with slices of beef. I know in Korean custom, for any spicy soup, the appropriate meat is pork. But the beef broth allowed for a heartier flavor, kind of like soul food. For side dishes, I made 오댕 and 오징어채. It takes a long time to make everything and I wish he appreciated my efforts and presentation despite my PMS driven quarrels that I initiated during my preparation.. oh whatever. Anyways, I feel SO much better that we now have some 반찬.  For lunch, I made 미역국 and 계란말이. So much cooking in one day. Is it strawberry season by the way? They are like candy. YUM YUM.

Recluse and Regret.

I feel like I've totally deserted my blog--and everything else for that matter, hence the title. So I'm back-- this time ready to pour out my thoughts, interests, experiences, and documents of my hobbies. Hopefully, I persist.  Anyways, after coming back from the honeymoon, I've invested countless hours in researching my career opportunities. After much deliberation with my husband :) and many fickle rounds of convictions, I have come to a decision. Hopefully, if it is God's will, everything will work out.

On a totally different note, I wanted to document all the movies I've seen in 2012. Because I'm not an avid movie-goer, the list won't be too long nor current, for I absolutely adore the thought of being wrapped up in a blanket and watching my "catch on demand" series of movies on my TV.

Anyway, here goes:

1. Morning Glory-- Rachel McAdams is so darn cute in the movie. It is a bit long, but for a romantic comedy, it is okay-- enjoyable. Romantic comedies are so limited in my view, so with that taken into consideration, it was "cute." And when movies are referred to as "cute," there are so many alternate connotations. If you want to watch an easy, "cute" movie, I think this is the one.

2. I Am Number 4-- Um, stupid. Bad acting, immature plot, simple and unimaginative overall.

Bible Emergency

For all of my moments.